WASHINGTON (LN) — The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the University of California for allegedly maintaining deliberate indifference to pervasive antisemitic discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students at its Los Angeles campus, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The complaint, filed in the Central District of California, stems from an investigation into antisemitic incidents on UCLA’s campus following the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. The DOJ concluded that UCLA failed to fulfill its legal obligations under Title VI in responding to those incidents.

“Universities have an obligation to maintain safe and inclusive campuses for all students,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. “Universities that violate our nation’s civil rights laws by repeatedly failing to shield Jewish students from antisemitism will be held accountable.”

The DOJ alleged that antisemitic hatred against UCLA’s Jewish and Israeli students escalated to the point where students were physically assaulted, injured, excluded from campus, and deprived of educational opportunities because of their perceived Jewish or Israeli heritage.

The complaint cited an April 2024 incident in which masked demonstrators erected an encampment outside Royce Hall and slapped, kicked, beat with sticks, doused with pepper spray, and knocked unconscious Jewish and Israeli students. During that time, occupiers formed “human phalanxes” to block Jewish and Israeli students from entering academic buildings.

The DOJ also alleged that UCLA breached its funding contracts and grants with the United States by certifying the school’s compliance with its Title VI duties while allowing discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students to infect its campus.

“Earlier this year, we sued UCLA for subjecting its Jewish and Israeli employees to an antisemitic hostile work environment,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Now, the Department of Justice calls UCLA to account for its toleration of the equally appalling hostile educational environment against its Jewish and Israeli students.”